- james cameron: the terminator 1984- frank capra: american madness 1932, it happened one night 1934, mr. deeds goes to town 1936, you can't take it with you 1938, mr. smith goes to washington 1939, meet john doe 1941, arsenic and old lace 1944, it's a wonderful life 1946

- henning carlsen: hunger 1966

- marcel carné: port of shadows 1939, children of paradise 1946- john carpenter: assault on precinct 13 1976, the thing 1982, they live 1988

- john cassavetes: shadows 1959, faces 1968, husbands 1970, minnie and moskowitz 1971, a woman under the influence 1974, the killing of a chinese bookie 1976

- jonas mekas: the brig 1964, diaries notes and sketches 1969, lost lost lost 1976, zefiro torna or scenes from the life of george maciunas (fluxus) 1992, birth of a nation 1997, 365 cycle 2007- georges melies: works

Monday, January 22, 2007

a small list of considerations for a chronicle of visual abstraction, with examples from music, photography, painting, film, video, and literature.including minimalism and the monochrome.this is not an all-inclusive list, but only concerned with examples of beauty or the sublime.this list is mostly centered around books and music from the library of herr schinkel / m. swiezynski, and related items found in museums, galleries or on the internet.

2. the photography of marco breuerin his words: "these images are fabricated without the use of a camera by either employing the technique of the photogram (bringing the object in physical contact with the paper when exposing it to light) or by subjecting the paper itself to a range of erosive treatments".

4b. these techniques were further employed by gus van sant in his young death trilogy. for example long takes in gerry where the camera glides parallel to the actors through the landscape with the actors and landscapes going in and out of focus. also much of the sound design in last days.

8. the films of ernie gehrin particular:films:-reverberation, 1969-serene velocity, 1970-history, 1970-eureka, 1974-untitled part 1 1981, 1981-signal: germany on the air, 1982-85-italian woods, 1982-side/walk/shuttle, 1993books:-films of ernie gehr, san francisco cinematheque-ernie gehr: brother can you spare some time, walter/mcbean gallery-numerous film culture and millennium film journal articles-and scott macdonald's books.j. hoberman said of side/walk/shuttle: "the movie is pure sensation: it has the effect of a slow-motion roller coaster. the camera's stately swoops and stomach-dropping descents obliterate all sense of gravity. san francisco is so viscerally and obsessively transformed that gehr might honorably have titled his movie vertigo."

9. the visual work of victor hugothe best place to see them is the victor hugo museum in paris.books:-shadows of a hand: the drawings of victor hugo, the drawing center new york-victor hugo: l'homme ocean, bibliotheque nationale de france/seuil-victor hugo: dessins, du chaos dans le pinceau..., paris musees

10. the photographs of idris khanin particular:-every... photograph taken whilst on top of the empire state building, 2003-every... william turner postcard from tate britain, 2004-struggling to hear....after ludwig van beethoven sonatas, 2005-blossfeldt.....after karl blossfeldt 'art forms in nature', 2005-caravaggio...... the final years, 2006

11. the visual work of robert fluddearly monochrome works (the great darkness, the appearance of light)books:-robert fludd: hermetic philosopher and surveyor of two worlds, phanes press-the hermetic museum: alchemy & mysticism, taschenalso see anslem kiefer's the secret life of plants & for robert fludd

16. cosmos/sun/star photos featured in dans le champ des etoiles: les photographes et le ciel 1850-2000, reunion des musees nationaux.wonderful book on photography and the sky, includes the photos of:maurice loewy & pierre puiaeux, lewis tabor, marcel bovis, john herschel, warren de rue, jules janssen, isaac roberts, paul henry, maximilian wolf, ferdinand quenisset, thomas ruff, and many others.also see: cosmos: from romanticism to avant-garde which includes some of the same work, and more examples from romanticism to modernism.

17. recent work by the hafler trio (andrew mackenzie)including his monochromatic abstractions of the human voice:cds:-exactly as I say-exactly as i do-exactly as i am-normally-where are youand other fine drone records. in his words: "working in the field of psychoacoustics and sonic research..... has produced a prolific body of work involving art, science, sound, religion, comedy and philosophy — emphasizing a dynamic balance and interplay of 'body', 'mind' and 'spirit' over any one of these".

18. visual work of august strindbergbooks:-l'experience photographique d'august strindberg, actes sud-strindberg painter and photographer, yalemost interesting are the celestographies, (cameraless photos made by exposing photographic plates directly to the night sky)

20. alphonse allaisfrench humorist that did monochromes that had a big inspiration on duchamp and yves klein.

21. lewis carroll: the hunting of the snark, 1876. (empty maps)see this fine article for information on early monochrome artists.

22. semiconductor'sbrilliant noise.brilliant noise is comprised of solor photography. in their works: "these images have been kept in their most raw form, revealing the energetic particles and solar wind as a rain of white noise. this grainy black and white quality is routinely cleaned up by nasa, hiding the processes and mechanics in action behind the capturing procedure".

25. eleanore mikusmikus created minimalistic monochrome paintings during the '60s and early '70 and returned again to this work in the mid '80s to present.

26. laurie reidsan francisco artist that restricts herself to using water, pigment, and paper.more images here from crown point press.

27. dove bradshawnew york artist engaged in process works, which are influenced by john cage's ideas about chance.see contingency series for good examples.

28. robert morrisespecially his blind time drawings, and film mirror 1969.books:-robert morris: the mind/body problem, guggenheim.

29. william anastasifamous for his subway drawings in the 70's riding to and from daily chess games with john cage. sitting with a pencil in each hand and a drawing board on his lap, allowing the rhythm of the moving train to be transformed into lines on the paper.

32. the novels of maurice blanchotfor example, thomas the obscure:"...scarcely any light remained, but it was still possible to see certain details of the landscape fairly clearly...as night was falling he tried to get up, and, pushing against the ground with both hands, got one knee under him while the other leg dangled, then he made a sudden lurch and succeeded in placing himself entirely erect. so he was standing....."books:-the station hill blanchot reader: fiction & literary essays, station hill-the step not beyond, suny-aminadab, bison books-blanchot: the space of literature, univ. of nebraska press

33. the number pieces and prints of john cage.the number pieces were written between 1987-1992. each work's title consists of a number written out (one, two, fourteen, etc.) that indicates the number of performers.other musical examples:-44 harmonies from apartment house 1776-cheap imitation-ryoanji-quartets I-VIII-4'33''books:-rolywholyover: a circus, museum of contemporary art, los angeles-john cage visual art: to sober and quiet the mind, crown point press-sounds of the inner eye: john cage, mark tobey and morris graves, univ. of washingtom press-silence: lectures and writings, wesleyan university press-muiscage: cage muses on words art music, wesleyan univ. press-m: writings '67-'72, wesleyan univ. press-the music of john cage by james pritchett, cambridge univ. press-october 81 & 82, mit (includes reconsidering cage)-john cage I-VI, wesleyan university pressand other books.

34. the sound work of b.j. nilsencds:-storm (with chris watson)-drykkjuvisur ohljodanna & vikinga brennivin (both with stilluppsteypa)-fade to whiteall with delicate monochromatic textures. in his words: "there are no reference points in this darkness".

35. paintings by gunter uecker.german artist that was part of group zero.books:-monochromes: from malevich to the present by barbara rose univ. of california

acknowledgements to tarrl lightowler for numerous ideas for this list.